There was smattering of National level athletes spread across a range of events at NPW on Saturday. A number of these were here for the annual Rhythm & Jumps Competition held at Christchurch Boys’ High, on Friday night.

Hamish Kerr equaled his performance from Dunedin a fortnight ago, in much lesser quality conditions with his clearance of 2.16m. In addition to this jump, he had a reasonable attempt at 2.24m.

Imogen Skelton was a surprise winner in the Women’s’ event, with a jump of 1.72m, over the 1.70m clearance of Josie Reeves (Lower Hutt).

Christina Reeves defeated former National Champion Kelsey Berryman with her PB jump of 5.62m into a solid head wind.

Shay Veitch (TAERI) produced the best Long Jump in the country since 2015 with his winning leap of 7.66m at the R & J. His performance was the best in the country since Matt Wyatt (NHB-AKL) jumped 7.67m. Other than this performance, no one else had jumped better than Veitch’s Friday effort in NZ since 2007, though New Zealand eligible Felix Maisey-Curtis, a British domicile, jumped 7.77m in France, July 2014.

Following up from his outstanding Long Jump, Veitch convincingly won the 100m/200m double on Saturday in the rapid times of 10.78 (4.7m/s) & 21.09 (3.2m/s). Despite the wind assistance it was very impressive sprinting. It is hoped that the imminent appearance of National Medallist, Tiaan Whelpton (COBU), at the South Island Championships next weekend, can bring about some more high-level sprinting.

The High Jump featured National Senior Women’s Champion Josie Reeves (Lower Hutt) whose efforts the previous night meant that she was not at her best, winning with a modest 1.66m from Claudia Knight (PTOC).

National M20 Champion, Jayden Williamson (NHB-AKL), was another who backed up from Friday night and was able to improve his performance with his jump to get over 1.91m.

Max Attwell (COBU), was finally rewarded for his triple throws competition efforts when he achieved a PB of 12.72m in the Shot Put. Limited by a niggly achilles, he has taken the opportunity to hone his throwing while rehabilitating back to his other track & jumping events. Another quality performance was garnered by Tapenisa Havea (LIAC), in the Shot Put. She once again ventured into the mid-15m distances to win the W18 event.

A young athlete starting to find her form in her event is Gracie Pratten (PTOC). Her Triple Jump of 11.20m, in addition to being a PB, also ranks her #4 in the country this season. It also pushes her into being a strong contender for the Junior Girl’s Triple Jump at the NZSS Champs. in Tauranga in two weeks, time.

The Women’s’ 200m was the most competitive sprint race once again. The top 4 athletes were covered by a mere 0.23sec. Jordyn Blake again prevailed over Fiona Morrison, 25.27sec to 25.36sec, with Rebecca Joubert out finishing Julia Burnham to take 3^rd place.

Louis Andrews was a comfortable winner in the Men’s’ 400m. His time of 51.98sec left middle distance specialists, Daniel Roswell CHAV) 53.43sec. and Ethan Smolej (PTOC) 53.71sec, in his wake.